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Press Release Go to the website of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ)
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Press Release Go to the website of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ)
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Corporations must be truly accountable NGO demand for regulation is supported by a broad range of stakeholders Brussels, 6 December - The European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) [1] and the FIDH [2] today propose that a legal framework is developed to ensure that corporations behave in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. They see the CSR approach adopted by the European Commission unpromising and misguided. Civil society groups have decided not to participate in tomorrow's multi-stakeholder forum organised by the European Commission, because the narrow focus will only address voluntary measures, while it has been proven that this approach is not sufficient to solve social and environmental problems related to corporate behaviour. To put a regulatory approach back on the agenda, NGOs host a conference today for representatives from governments, enterprises, trade unions and the European Institutions. [3] Paul de Clerck, steering group member of ECCJ and Corporate Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said: "If European companies do not respect human rights and environmental interests in other parts of the world, we need to ensure that affected people can find justice and hold companies accountable." "High profile stakeholders from retail company Carrefour, the French government and European trade unions are all pleading for a level playing field on Corporate Social Responsibility. Rules and regulations to ensure corporate accountability are not only to protect affected communities but they are in the interests of the companies as well." [4] At the conference today, NGOs will propose the following measures which will contribute to corporate accountability: * Mandatory reporting on social and environmental issues Richard Howitt, UK Socialist MEP and rapporteur for the European Parliament's current report on CSR, said: "There is a very strong case for companies to report their social and environmental impacts on a mandatory basis. And even before this is introduced, the European Commission should be enforcing existing laws to test the transparency and credibility of current CSR initiatives." *** For more information, please contact: Virginie Giarmana, European Coalition for Corporate Justice, info@corporatejustice.org; tel + 32 475 35 72 76 NOTES: [2] Fédération Internationale des Droits de l'Homme, a federation of 141 Human Rights organisations from over 100 countries, whose mandate is to contribute to the respect of all the rights defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [3] The conference "Towards a regulatory approach to Corporate Social Responsibility" is taking place today at Le Botanique, Rue Royale 236, Brussels, from 14.00 to 17.00 . [4] European supermarket giant Carrefour has argued for clear CSR rules and a precise distinction between the responsibilities of private companies and governments. In their view, this is a necessity to allow fair competition between companies. The French government would like to see an international framework for corporate accountability and is currently working with several other countries to push for a new initiative at the United Nations. |